Comments on: Why everyone should write a framework and never use it

By: Brian the new guy

Brian the new guy — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 20:22:49 +0000

I want to learn PHP. Any suggestions?

By: Dalton Filho

Dalton Filho — Sun, 18 May 2008 19:16:31 +0000

I totally agree. I think you have to reinvent the wheel if you want to understand how the wheel works. I don’t want to imagine what would I be right now if I never had data structures classes where I had to (re)write them. I see many people going straight to Struts without even a good grasp on the Java basics. For heaven’s sake!! When it comes to learning, reinventing the wheel is a must.

By: jaisen

jaisen — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 17:37:41 +0000

@Tom,Peter … I’ve heard the same about the Zend Framework. Which brings up another great excercise. Building plugins/modules for existing applications will go a long way to help you get comfortable starting on an existing project with engineers. Which in my opinion is much harder than doing it yourself from scratch.

By: Peter Michaux

Peter Michaux — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 17:14:57 +0000

Tom, Highly modular frameworks (e.g. Catalyst from what I understand) allow you to pick and choose which parts you want to use. This reduces the need to write your own framework for the efficiency argument you make.

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 16:12:22 +0000

I feel it is important to point out that if you do write a cusom framework for a project, you can make sure it is streamlined and small to include only the necessary portions. If you use another framework, your website could end up being slower than it should be. Not practical for all projects, but for some it is very beneficial.

By: Piccolo Principe

Piccolo Principe — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 11:51:06 +0000

Well, I have spent my pause after the exams to build classes like OtkRequest, OtkResponse, OtkController and so far.. Now that I am extensively using Zend Framework I think every piece of the puzzle is going to his place…
That doesn’t mean that every real programmer should write a Unix kernel, but in every field of computer science it’s better to dirty your hands to learn “how stuff works”. That’s the reason why Assembly is teached nowadays.

By: E_mE

E_mE — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 07:59:55 +0000

What a great article, I’ve got experience with a open source framework, but I’m currently going through the process of writing a framework with my employer, I’m finding the process enlightening as attempting this task is a great insight of the general aspects of my preferred open source framework.

When I was at college (Not university) we had to write an Assembler simulator which included all the major registers, processing units and flags. Then attach an applications onto it with bit masking interface, some examples where a washing machine and traffic lights, then had to write the ASM to control the specific application. This was a great experience.

By: jaisen

jaisen — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 05:38:45 +0000

@Brent, Indeed…here at Yahoo I know that both of those approaches have been taken. The group I’m working with is using a home grown framework and the Answers team for example used Symphony. The nice part about a company like Yahoo is that engineers have already evaluated (and continue to evaluate) which frameworks (internal or external) meet the requirements for performance, maintenance, etc.

By: Brent Morris (the Closet Geek)

Brent Morris (the Closet Geek) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 05:28:28 +0000

@jaisen: It’s true that there will always be those projects that have custom requirements and require a custom system. But there are also projects that can fit into a certain template and sometimes that template is your in-house framework or a pre-existing one if it’s stable, better and cost-effective.

I totally agree with you that personally as programmers we should write our own frameworks to understand how a framework works in the first place. I was just saying that this isn’t necessarily the best for a team or a business.

By: jaisen

jaisen — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 05:18:12 +0000

@Brent, while there is a difference between work and play it’s also important to note that it’s the fine details which provide the greatest learning opportunity. I think another great way to be forced into ironing out the fine details is to release something for general use.